‘Kiss’ costume contest new addition to River Days Festival

Steve Free will kick off the live performances at the 2016 Portsmouth River Days on Sept. 1, at 6 p.m.

Josh Stewart will be performing at the 2016 Portsmouth River Days Festival on Sept.1, at 7:30 p.m.

Rock band, ‘Orleans’ will be performing at the 2016 Portsmouth River Days Festival on Sept. 1, at 9 p.m.

The 54th Annual Portsmouth River Days Festival (PRDF) will convene Sept. 1-4, and the committee is sealing this year’s entertainment lineup with a kiss, two tickets to see the ionic rock band ‘Kiss’ who will be in concert in Huntington, W. Va.

Kelli Richardson, secretary of the PRDF committee, said they are elated about the Kiss Costume Contest in which the winner will receive two Kiss concert tickets. The tickets were donated by attorney Jeremy Burnside.

“The actual rock band, Kiss is going to be in concert in a few weeks in Huntington, and we are having a tribute to the band,” Richardson said. “Attorney Jeremy Burnside has bought two tickets which will be the grand prize for the Kiss costume contest which will be held on Friday, Sept. 2 at 8:30 p.m. right before War Machine, the Kiss tribute band performs. We put the word out on Facebook, and have been telling everybody to come in their best Kiss costume, because the grand prize winner is going to get two tickets to the actual Kiss concert.”

Tim Angel, chairperson of the Portsmouth River Days committee, affirms that the entertainment lineup is spectacular.

“I think we have an excellent entertainment line up for the 54th annual Portsmouth River Days Labor Day celebration. I’m looking forward to working with the artists who will bring four days of terrific free entertainment to the community,” Angel said.

All concerts are free and will be performed on the Riverfront sound stage at Court Street Landing. Children’s activities are free and will be located in York Park. Scheduled times of the events are subject to change according the Portsmouth River Days Committee.

The Voice Competition which consists of nine local contestants are also set to perform on Sunday at PRDF.

“Sunday at 4:30 p.m. we are going to have all nine people who participated in our ‘Voice’ contest to come on stage. We have some local people who are going to judge, and the winner will receive $250, so those are two new things that we have added this year.

The Grand Parade will be full participation of 350 units, according to Richardson.

“The parade is Saturday at 11 a.m., and we have over 350 units this year, and I believe that is the largest number ever, so a lot of people are looking forward to that,” Richardson said. “Then there’s the Unity 1 Home Health Care River Days Queens Pageant. The Queen contestants have been out doing their community service projects, scavenger hunts, meeting the community.”

Planning and preparation for PRDF is a major undertaking, Richardson said.

“River Days is a 365 day a year job, but it all comes together. Let’s just hope that the weather holds off, and we have great weather, because its going to be a fun weekend,” Richardson said. “River Days is such an important part of our community, it is the largest local festival held.”